


How Can You Expect To Be (Taken Seriously)

by sevenall



Series: Mercy Street [14]
Category: Bleach
Genre: Mercy Street AU
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-04-22
Updated: 2016-04-22
Packaged: 2018-06-03 19:23:58
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 840
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6623176
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sevenall/pseuds/sevenall
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The story of Hajime.</p>
            </blockquote>





	How Can You Expect To Be (Taken Seriously)

Ise Nanao knows the rules of the dating game. She and Hajime have had coffee four times, dinner twice and gone to the movie once. There was also the leisurely stroll up and down Mercy Street, when he bought her frozen yogurt. She let him treat her to the movie and the yogurt, but signalled her independence with picking up the bill for the coffee the second and fourth time. She would have preferred to split the dinner bills down the middle as well, only Hajime drank her whole main course's worth in wine and there are certain indulgences Nanao won't pay for. She got the tip instead and tried not to think of how Shunsui always does the same.

Seven dates means it could be time to get serious. Nano thinks they may already be at the stage where you either walk away or invite your date home for dinner. And she is not quite ready to walk away. Hajime is nice and pleasant, capable of holding up his end of the conversation and has, on occasion, even made her smile. She thinks she could like him.

She is late getting back from the market, though, and has barely lit the charcoal in the shichirin when the doorbell rings. She buzzes him through, then hastily empties the bag of scampi into a bowl. Perhaps he will want to help her cook, or at least lounge around the open kitchen area while she prepares the rice and vegetables.

Hajime has brought flowers and Nanao hears her own voice get softer in thanking him. Her offer of a drink is accepted and she retreats to the kitchen with the flowers. They are really beautiful, as well as appropriate for the occasion. Not too lavish, not too heavily scented and with enough originality to show that he has selected each flower individually. She arranges them for best effect in a celadon vase and places them as the centerpiece in the dining room, then pours  
Campari into a tall glass with ice, the way he likes it.

"You have a lovely home," he says when she comes back with his drink.

Lovely is not the word Nanao would have used. Like the tea-house, her apartment is sparsely furnished, almost austere. But if love makes blind, affection causes near-sightedness at least, and Nanao thinks he meant to compliment her. After living there for so long, the apartment cannot help but be a reflection of her. That Hajime appreciates it... pleases her.

"Thank you," she replies simply, letting her fingers linger a little on his as she passes him the glass.

This time he follows her into the kitchen area, as if encouraged by their brief touch. When she indicates for him to sit down, he does, then makes a show of checking the fire in the shichirin. Nanao has to lean into the fridge to hide her smile.

The crash is not loud, but Nanao barely avoids getting her fingers caught in the fridge door as she slams it shut. The bowl of shrimp is on the floor, overturned, and Cat is on the counter.

"Oh, _Cat_…," she begins, exasperated, when Hajime steps around her, towards Cat and, she cannot believe her eyes, absolutely _viciously_ backhands Cat across the nose. Cat is sent sprawling, but only for a moment. Ears back, he launches himself at Hajime's face.

Hajime recoils, trying to bat away the demon disguised as cat, but it is not necessary; Nanao has already stepped between them. Cat, realizing this, re-sheathes his claws, but Hajime, less attuned to Nanao's movements, cannot pull back in time and the blow glances off her shoulder.

It's not a hard punch. Nanao's shoes give her more pain every day of her life. Ikkaku (and every student she has ever had) hits harder. But it was meant for Cat, not her, and carried enough force to snap Cat's neck.

"Get. Out," she says, while Cat yowls and squirms in her arms and wants another chance at the intruder.

Hajime has the decency to look ashamed and to not apologize, which would be useless anyway. After four meetings over coffee, two dinners and a movie, you don't get away with smacking your date's cat. You just don't. Though Nanao is careful to look away, she can hear him leave; the soft footsteps through the apartment, the rattle as he takes his coat off the hanger, the muted thump of the door closing behind him, then the grind of gears as the elevator makes its way to her floor. All the sounds of walking out and it's not like Nanao hasn't heard them before.

Running after him will avail her nothing. She stays where she is. Cat jumps out of her arms and starts in on the shrimp, but she doesn't move to stop him. She wants to shake. She wants to cry or laugh out loud. She does neither. After a few minutes, she walks over to the table and puts out the fire in the shichirin.

FIN


End file.
